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Around the world there is a post-pandemic tsunami of reading frustration for millions of children. However, the good news for children who are guessing short, common words and struggling to spell is there is a fun, visual phonics solution that will get their literacy back on track.

Should you test your child for dyslexia? It can be helpful, and seems important, to know if your child is dyslexic. It is essential to take action if you’re seeing dyslexic patterns in your child. But is an assessment the right thing? There are 5 dangers with this that you might not have considered.

If you sent your child to their room to get three things, would they come back with all three? At Helping Children to Read, we regularly ask parents this question because it gives us a picture of how strong the child’s working memory is.

The symptoms of dyslexia can vary a lot, which makes it hard to identify whether a child is dyslexic. But far more important than the dyslexia label itself is understanding what is really causing the difficulty with reading and spelling.

Phonemic awareness was in the lowest possible bracket when autistic children took standardized tests. Having a good awareness of the sounds that make up our language is key to being able to decode and blend words. This trait is shared with children with dyslexia, and causes much frustration.

A deep body of research has shown that when it comes to reading, there are no late bloomers. Children who struggle early just keep struggling.

It is so simple that you might already be doing it, without realizing. Or maybe reading this will cause a head slap, with an exasperated “of course!” directly following it. Whether you have an early reader or a struggler who cannot seem to crack fluent reading, there is one trick that you have to try to promote this essential skill.

Most of us understand very little about reading difficulty, even though it affects a staggering one in five people. Here’s how to spot the top four causes of reading difficulty and dyslexia.

Have you noticed that your child can identify the individual sounds in a word like t-r-a-ck, but struggles to combine those sounds to make the word? Or perhaps you’ve seen your child sound a word out correctly and then say a completely different one! It can be pretty baffling.

Newsflash: struggling readers tend to read less than proficient readers. OK, so maybe that’s not as newsworthy as you were hoping. But here’s something that might pique your interest. A recent study found that it is generally a child’s level of reading ability that determines how MUCH they read, and not vice versa.

Dyslexia can make learning to read a real challenge, but dyslexics are often exceptionally bright children, with incredible potential. We find that – with the right targeted support – most dyslexics can crack the code and start reading and writing well.

We are giving you and your child the chance to win an Amazon Echo Dot – and have some fun along the way!

Reading is all about gaining meaning from a text, and understanding is the essence of communication. But how does the brain gain meaning from text?

Why is it that learning to read is a walk in the park for some children, but a nightmare for others? You might do everything the teacher tells you, getting your daily reading practice in without fail, but still make absolutely no progress. Meanwhile your friend’s child of the same age, at the same school, doing the same things “seemed to learn to read overnight”!?

It can take a moment to wrap your head around this new, alternative method. But once you do, the learning process is fun, effective and surprisingly simple for the child. This video explains what TVP is and how you can use it. Enjoy!

When children struggle to read, it can feel devastating in the moment for them and their families. The psychological effects of falling behind does leave an emotional mark, not to mention the impact of reading difficulties in seemingly unrelated subjects like math and science.

How much does vision affect a child’s ability to read? If a child can pass an eye test, everything should be fine, right? Wrong.

So you know your reader has a bit of a guessing habit. They read ‘the’ instead of ‘there’. Or they see a picture of a cookie on the page, and read ‘cookie’ instead of ‘cake’. You ask them to sound out words, and instead you just get another guess based on the first letter. It can be frustrating. To put it mildly.

Dyspraxia is a neurological condition that affects motor movement, sensory moderation, and coordination of tasks. Though not directly labelled a “learning difficulty”, it has challenging implications for the classroom setting. There is hope for every dyspraxic child to learn to read, with the right support.

Last Thursday, when my son brought home his kindergarten report card, I only really had one question: was he reading at grade level? But the report card didn’t give me a simple answer. Instead, it read like a mysterious code. There was a box labeled “Independent Reading Level,” an inscrutable letter “H” written beside it, and no explanation of what that meant.

You are your child’s first and greatest champion in the world, and you will find good solutions to most issues when you look. In our specialist area of literacy, we find that every child can see good progress with the right support and guidance for them, as individuals.

One of the key ways parents can become more engaged in their child’s learning is to take a more proactive role in their schoolwork. Life coach and former learning specialist Elizabeth Colella Frank champions this sentiment, explaining that parents need to be proactive advocates for their children.

Your child’s school will inevitably play a critical role in helping your child to read. And – thanks to US programs, laws, and funding structures – there are good systems in place to make sure that the role they play is a positive one.